“You look far away, in dreamland or something.”
“I was just-” I shrugged.
“Thinking of your mate?” He gave me his signature half smile that showed his one dimple running his hands through his shaggy mostly blonde hair.
“I mean, yes,” I replied honestly, “I don’t want to disappear on her.”
“Text her.” Holden shrugged.
“She never gave me her number.”
“Ouch,” Griffen walked back in, “Then don’t.”
My eyes shot to his dark gray ones, they looked almost black even when his wolf wasn’t pushing forward, “Why not?”
“If she didn’t give you her number then she doesn’t want you to text her,” He shrugged, “Plus it would be creepy.”
“But she’s his mate,” Holden countered, “What would you do if that was Nora?”
“That was different,” He shook his head, “Caspien’s doesn’t want a mate apparently.”
“She has a name,” I growled shocked by my own response.
“Willa, sorry. Willa isn’t ready for a mate.” He corrected.
“Did you ever figure out what happened?” Holden turned to me.
“No,” I shook my head thinking, “It doesn’t add up. Willa hasn’t even mentioned him, she told me she was her second chance but we haven’t dug up our histories.”
“Better to keep it that way,” Holden commented.
“You’re going to be singing a different song when you find your mate,” Griffen leaned next to Holden.
They looked so different, with Holden’s shaggy blonde hair and brown eyes, he was taller and lankier than Griffen, but still held a lot of muscle.
Griffen was bulkier, and with his dark brown hair and dark gray eyes he was a stark contrast to the beach boy leaning next to him. He was the no-nonsense one, it wasn’t until he found Nora that he seemed to settle into himself, and let himself loosen up if even a bit.
Their outer appearances definitely imitated their personalities, they were almost opposites.
I’ve known them both my entire life, most of it at least. Holden was the son of my dad’s Gamma so we were raised together since birth.
My dad’s Beta didn’t have any kids and Griffen was the son of one of our head warriors. He was always around and became my closest friend, we three fell into a friendship that turned more like a brotherhood.
I feel that, no, I knew, that since Griffen didn’t have Beta blood he felt like he had to prove himself. He had worked harder than anyone did in this entire pack and even though no one said anything about it, not to my face at least, I got the sense that he never felt fully comfortable in the role. Even though he accepted it and was far more suited to it than any Beta I had known, he still didn’t feel as if he was qualified.
My parents advised me at first to take someone else or make Holden my Beta and choose another Gamma, but I wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t just because he was my best friend, a brother, it was because he was the best choice and the pack saw that.
Holden was meant to be a Gamma, he never wanted the responsibilities of being a Beta and he wasn’t raised for it.
We had a few challenges starting out, but we got into a rhythm quickly. We worked well together and we helped balance each other. No matter that people thought I ran this place like a d.amn dictator, and sometimes I did, I took their advice into consideration.
“So you think I should just leave for a few days without telling her?” I asked both of them.
They both shrugged.
“You know her better than we do, do you think it would be worse to leave without saying anything or to admit to her that you have access to her number on the rental application because you own her building?” Griffin raised a dark eyebrow.
F.uck, he was right.
She didn’t know that I was looking for her, that I had her flagged in all of the company’s systems, and many others. She didn’t know who I was, or she never alluded to it, and I doubt it was something that she would have kept to herself.
“Okay, I’ll leave it then, I just want it to be noted that I don’t feel good about it.”
“Noted, sir,” Holden mock saluted me and Griffen nodded.
“She will come around, man,” Griffin assured me.
Easy for him to say, he met his mate at an allied pack event he attended on my behalf. He mated and marked her that same night.
Thinking of having Willa under me, letting me touch her, claim her, and show her just how incredible she was sent an involuntary shiver down my spine.
“Come on,” Griffen groaned pushing off the wall looking at his phone, “We have a new meeting place, and it’s even further away.”
I sighed, my pack and the humans in this city were more important than some wannabe Alpha’s quest for dominance. I tried to remember that.
(Willa)
The next day that he didn’t show up made it harder. Even though I tried to convince myself that it was for the best and prepared myself for him not to show up my body still tensed and I felt a flurry of nerves whenever the time neared that he used to come in.
“What happened to prince charming’s dark twin?” Cali asked after the third day he didn’t show.
I gave her a smile or tried to, to show just how unbothered I was, and shrugged.
“Your guess is as good as mine,”
She crossed her arms studying me, I looked away, I didn’t know what she was looking for but she was more perceptive than even I realized.
I hated that I was mad at him. I hated that I was already starting to lean on him. I needed to figure out how to do all this by myself without relying on anyone to be there for me. Or maybe that’s what friends were for.
I relied on Cali, and I didn’t see that as a negative thing. It was too much to sort through and I didn’t know why I felt the way I did.
I felt anger, I felt the hollow burning ache of rejection, even if it was a shadow of what I felt with Nolan. It was a feeling I knew all too well in any capacity.
I was mad at him, for leading me on. Or maybe I did by not accepting his date. But did I want someone who would disappear after a week of me not accepting him?
It was my fault.
He was too good for me, I’m sure he realized that now that the initial shock of the mate bond wore off. He’s probably back in his polished penthouse apartment and forgot I even existed. A single mother who could barely pay her bills and had no pack to call home.
F.uck I was feeling it all.
(Caspien)
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